The iconic Rotherham strikers who have played for Cardiff

Ronnie Moore, Leo Fortune-West, Alan Lee and Adam Le Fondre all have something else in common other than banging in the goals for Rotherham.

As well as all being scoring heroes for the Millers they have all also played for this weekend’s opponents Cardiff.

While Moore joined the Millers from the Bluebirds, Fortune-West and Lee went the other way, for club-record deals at the time, and Le Fondre is currently with the south Wales club, though on loan at Bolton.

Here's a closer look at the quartet who have been a Miller and a Bluebird.

Ronnie Moore (Cardiff 1979-80, Rotherham 1980-83)

It’s fair to say that Moore was far more popular in South Yorkshire than he was in Wales, though perhaps that is not a fair comparison owing to his God-like status with the Millers.

Moore joined Cardiff after a spell in America and the Bluebirds fans must have been wondering what all the fuss was about as he struggled to make an impact at Ninian Park. 

The Liverpudlian scored just six goals in 52 appearances and was so off-form in front of goal that fans jokingly wore badges with ‘I saw Ronnie Moore score’, poking fun at his poor strike rate.

Luckily, Moore immediately settled in South Yorkshire when he joined in 1980 and had a three-year spell at Millmoor which earned him a permanent place in the hearts of Millers fans.

He was profilic in his first campaign in 1980/81 where the Millers won promotion to the second tier and continued on the goal trail the following year as they fell just short of promotion to the top division.

He struggled in his third year at Millmoor as the team were relegated and soon left the club when George Kerr came in from Grimsby and overhauled the squad.

Moore was already royalty for those three years as a player, but he cemented his position as the King with his spell as manager between 1997-2005 where he led the club from the bottom tier to Division One, punching above their weight for four years at that level.

He came back for a second spell in 2009, but was not able to repeat the trick, though did take the Millers to Wembley for just the second time in their history.

Leo Fortune-West (Rotherham 1998,1999-00, Cardiff 2000-03)

There has been no other Rotherham striker quite like Leo Fortune-West.

The frontman was ungainly, clumsy and immobile, but boy did he do a job for the Millers in their 1999-2000 promotion.

Fortune-West originally came to Millmoor in 1998 on loan from Lincoln, but after four goals in five games he was bought by Brentford.

The move to London did not work out for Fortune-West and just a week after he played at Millmoor for the Bees, and got roundly booed, he was back in a Millers shirt after boss Ronnie Moore famously negotiated a deal with Ron Noades for a permanent transfer back to South Yorkshire in February.

He helped the Millers to an unsuccessful play-off campaign in 1998/99, scoring eight goals, but came into his own the following season as he led the line superbly.

His physical presence and hold-up play proved pivotal and he bagged 17 goals, including a run of 12 in 13 games, to fire Moore’s men to second place in Division Two.

That form attracted the interest of Cardiff, who bid £300,000, and after originally turning them down, Fortune-West was offered a big-money contract and signed for the Bluebirds in the early stages of the 2000/01 season.

He left the Millers having made 74 appearances, scoring 30 goals, and his move represented a massive profit for the club.

Finding himself back in the bottom tier, it was more of the same as his 13 goals helped the Bluebirds win promotion and he bagged 11 more the following season in Division Two.

He struggled for game time in his third season at Ninian Park, making just 28 appearances and scoring four goals.

With the Bluebirds on the up, Fortune-West left at the end of his contract and returned to South Yorkshire where he joined Doncaster.

Alan Lee (Rotherham 2000-03, Cardiff 2003-05)

There’s probably only one man who can challenge Ronnie Moore for the title of most idolised Rotherham player and that is Alan Lee.

Lee became a cult-hero at Millmoor for his part in the club’s rise from Division Two to four-year establishment in the second tier.

The main act of that contribution was scoring that goal against Brentford, which sparked unrivalled scenes of joy at Millmoor and sealed promotion against all the odds, with virtually the last kick of the home season.

Lee had come to the club earlier on in the 2001/02 as a replacement for Fortune-West and initially struggled to find his feet, looking as if he had no idea where the net was.

But he soon came good and with his raw pace and strength he was a real asset for the Millers, scoring 15 goals, the last of which has gone down in history.

That was only the beginning for Lee, who developed into a real asset, and his form in Division One over the next couple of seasons, where he scored 10 and 16 goals respectively, earned him a call-up to the Republic Of Ireland side.

From that point it was always going to be difficult to keep him at Millmoor and when the Millers refused to offer him a contract to bring him in line with the top earners, he decided it was time to leave, with big-spending Cardiff stumping up £850,000 to take him to south Wales.

He left Millmoor in August 2003 a hero and with 39 goals from his 112 games.

Unfortunately for Lee, he could not take that form to Ninian Park with him and only managed single figure tallies in his two full seasons for the Bluebirds.

He moved to Ipswich midway through the 2005/06 campaign, leaving with just 12 goals in 96 games.

Adam Le Fondre (Rotherham 2009-12, Cardiff 2014-present)

Fans will love any player that deliver goals and that was Adam Le Fondre did for the Millers.

Joining the club who were in the early stages of their renaissance, Alfie had a magnificent two seasons at the Millers and plundered in over half-a-century of goals.

He arrived at the club in the embryonic part of the 2009/10 League Two campaign and immediately endeared himself to the Millers faithful, banging in 10 goals in his first 12 games, a run which included two spells of scoring in five games in a row.

He became the first Miller since Mark Robins, the man who signed him, to score more than 20 league goals in a season as his 30 strikes led the Millers to the play-off final, where they just fell short against Dagenham.

The following season brought more of the same as he whacked in 24 more, including four in a 6-4 thriller against Cheltenham, but it ended in ultimate disappointment as a late-season slump saw the Millers, who sacked Moore, slip out of the play-off race.

Continuing to languish in League Two, it was always going to be difficult to keep Le Fondre at the club and after he scored four goals in the opening five games of the 2011/12 season, Reading came calling and he left the Millers in a deal that eventually raised to around £800,000.

Three seasons with the Royals, which included him reaching double figures in the Premier League, followed before he left in the summer for the Cardiff City Stadium, in a deal worth around £300,000.

Life in south Wales has began slowly for the 28-year-old and is currently on loan at Bolton.